So you want to be a cop. Good for you, but get ready to seriously compete. Police jobs are among the hardest jobs to get, and for good reason: they don’t want people who are not serious.
Probably one of the first places people stumble is in finding available positions to begin with. Before trying to find a job, though, it is a very good idea to decide on where you want to live and work as a Police officer.
Things to consider when making this decision include:
- Whether you would prefer a large city or small town, and what that means for the type of police work you’ll be doing.
- What kind and how many opportunities for advancement and training you want: generally, larger towns have more training programs and types of work specializations. (Small rural towns don’t have S.W.A.T. teams, for example.)
- What climate you like to be outdoors in. Much of the job involves outdoor work.
Once you’ve settled on a place, it is time to start finding out about local job openings. There are five places to look that offer the best chance of finding out who is hiring and when:
- Websites that only advertise police jobs, such as www.policejobs.com, www.policeone.com, or websites like Indeed or Simply Hired. None of these are as good as searching locally, though.
- Local newspapers
- Local Job Service offices
- City and county websites for police and sheriff’s deputy positions, or state websites, for highway patrol and state police trooper positions
- Finally, nothing quite beats contacting an agency directly.
Call them up and ask when they will be hiring. Sign up for their ride-along program, and try to get to know some of the officers. Remember, when they hire, they’ll be most interested in those applicants who demonstrate initiative and interest, especially interest in their particular department.
Below you’ll find police office jobs by state.
